Have you ever heard of the “FT 17”, a lightweight French tank which was the most effective tank of the First World War? Or perhaps of “Dazzle”, a camouflage technique which, through the use of broken lines, made British battleships invisible to the enemy? These forgotten military innovations come to life once more in a new form, under the steel shell of Réservoir, an openwork metal sculpture designed by the artist Matthieu Pilaud. From the intersecting lines of “Dazzle” to the form of an artwork, similar to a battleship, the artist has drawn from the discoveries of the time in accordance with his inspiration. But here, the technical and industrial advances are reversed: the inaccessible steel compartment cannot act as a shelter, while as for the lines cut out in the stainless steel sheets, they showcase the view more than merging the object into its setting…  The installation is not a war memorial but pays homage to the living, rendered omnipresent by the polish and the openings in the structure.

Matthieu Pilaud is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris who bases his work around the polymorphism of objects. These works, constructed on a human scale, sometimes serious and sometimes playful, lead the observer to interact with them and their environment. His objects, often with a hidden meaning, thus constantly endeavour to relate body to space, and art to the outside world.